


Glowing Curls and Brilliant Trails

by John_Cribati



Series: Izuku but His Quirk Is From a Video Game [2]
Category: Celeste (Video Game), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Anxiety, Gen, Midoriya Izuku Has a Quirk, Video Game Mechanics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:20:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26179390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/John_Cribati/pseuds/John_Cribati
Summary: Izuku Midoriya is born with a simple, but flashy quirk. Or so everyone thought. It's still flashy- literally- but not so simple.
Series: Izuku but His Quirk Is From a Video Game [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1863310
Comments: 7
Kudos: 183





	Glowing Curls and Brilliant Trails

**Author's Note:**

> I was gonna make this a really long one shot but then I hit exactly 1500 words at the end of a section and figured it was some kind of sign.

The Glowing Baby of Quin Quin may not  _ necessarily _ have been the first person with a quirk, but they were the first person with a documented ability that obviously existed outside the previous human norm. They're an important figure in quirk history, and to this day it's considered a sign of good fortune for a baby to be born with light-based abilities.

So when Inko Midoriya's firstborn met the world, his green locks pulsing with an unearthly light, everyone in the room saw prosperity in his future.

********

Izuku knows that Fluorescent Hair isn't the most powerful quirk. But it's still something that could turn out useful for rescue work. Not to mention the possibility of using his hair as a flash-bang (without the bang) to disorient opponents if he had to fight.

Alongside that, Izuku also inherited a slight variation of his mother's telekinesis that forwent range for power. His palms would stick to virtually any surface he desired; useful for climbing, but the telekinetic energy can only support his weight for so long before he has to let go. At least it instantly recharges when he gets both his feet on the ground.

Also it makes his hair flash in an uncontrollable strobing pattern when it runs out. Which is cool.

He could be a hero with his power. His mother said so- he could do whatever he put his mind to.

It only sounded sincere coming from his mother, though.

_ You definitely have the look for it. You'd be super popular for sure. _

_ People would  _ love _ to see you on a screen. _

_ As long as you don't fight too hard and mess up your hair. Wouldn't want to ruin your good looks. _

He did have nearly half a million followers on HeroTube. His videos get millions of views and thousands of comments from people who were genuinely surprised by how deep and well-thought-out his analyses are; they were  _ so sure _ that everyone only liked him for his hair. 

And then Bakugou, whose attempts were... less than gentle.

_ Take a swan dive off the roof and pray for a better quirk in your next life _ , indeed.

It's ironic, then, that the only person other than his mother who thinks he could be a hero is the one suffocating him with the intent to take control of his corpse.

Izuku struggles, fighting as hard as he can against the tide of slime, forcing his hair to glow brighter and brighter still, in a last ditch effort to do  _ something _

And something indeed happens.

Somewhere in his desperate bid for survival, something changes.

He's always known that his hair was glowing- it buzzed softly, like a lightbulb. The white noise even helped him get to sleep at night.

But now, that vibration was thrumming through his entire body. Maybe even his soul.

But before he could do something with the feeling, an immense amount of pressure burst around him, and he was free, bouncing against the asphalt.

********

"You want to be a hero like me?"

Izuku nods, and All Might- skinny and wasted away- nearly throws himself to the ground, propping himself up with the small wall of the roof.

"You have the heart, Young Midoriya. And with a quirk like yours, you'll do quite well in rescue scenarios. But to be a hero like me, you need to be much, much more powerful. Even  _ I'm _ not always strong enough to be a hero like me."

He gets up. "You can go far, Young man. But you need to stick to your strengths and be realistic."

********

_ It wasn't a "no." All Might does believe in me. Just not as much as I believe in myself. _

_ It isn't even terrible advi- _

An explosion pulls Izuku out of his musing. He's close. Why is he close? Home is the other way. But he can't turn away now, can he?

The slime villain is back. With a hostage.

He must have made All Might drop the bottle, and the heroes can't do anything and whatever happens, this is his mistake.

The buzz in his head gets louder with each heartbeat, matching his rising anxiety. It's enough that the crowd begins to take note.

Izuku can't slow his breathing enough. The power in his hair seems to thrum through his very being and he wants to move, to leave, to  _ get away _ but he can't peel his eyes away, he has to see his mistake through to the end.

And then, he catches a glimpse of who the villain has in its clutch, and watching is no longer an option. 

He's over the barrier before he can register that he's moved, but his mind catches up to his body and he does the only thing he can and tosses his backpack.

It moves a lot faster than he'd expected it to, and one of his notebooks sinks almost entirely into the sludge's eye.

It recoils away from Kacchan, freeing his entire torso, and then Izuku is there, his arms around his tormentor's waist as he yanks as hard as he can.

It isn't enough. Kacchan is still waist-and-arm deep in the sludge, which is quickly recovering from its injured eye. 

The panic is back, and with it the low, white-noise buzzing of his hair becomes a loud thrum, pulsing down from his hair, through his limbs, and, strangely, into Kacchan. Both boys take a split second to be confused, before Izuku does something ridiculous.

Bending his knees, he Grips onto Kacchan with everything he has, and at the next pulse, he yanks as hard as he can, with his entire body.

The buzz is gone. Nowhere to be heard, or felt, for the first time in his life. The locks that fall in front of his face are a deep forest green, instead of the luminescent neon he’d grown to expect. For a moment, he fears the worst, that he's somehow broken his quirk.

The next moment, he notices that he’s several meters in the air, and rapidly approaching the asphalt. He puts his legs first, bracing for the impact.

He feels it when he touches the ground, but the landing doesn't break his legs, crack his heel, or even so much as jar his ankle.

He just kind of... stops.

But more importantly, his hair turns back on, and he has a moment to breathe a heavy sigh of relief before he sees the arm of sludge showing up to crush him and Kacchan.

_ I have to move.  _

Before Izuku even finishes the thought, his hair pulses again and he finds himself against another wall, the sludge villain's arm splattering against the ground where he was standing.

No time to consider that, though. He practically drags Kacchan toward the barrier the pros set up, desperate to get to safety, and he seems to be learning the timing of whatever is happening, because he can feel the white noise in his head build to another crescendo and he leaps for the barrier.

And then he's in the air, above the crowd? Close enough to barely skim over their heads, moving  _ really _ fast, and already at the apex of his flight and heading to the ground. His hair is out again, and the distraction, the  _ wrongness _ throws him off. He lands badly, losing his balance and tumbling into a roll.

It doesn't hurt, but it makes him really dizzy and it's all he can do to keep himself wrapped around Kacchan, to protect him as much as possible until finally, they come to a stop.

He sits up to the familiar fluorescent hum of his hair, and the crowd is cheering.

It takes a moment for him to register that there are two different messages.

Further away is the ecstatic cry of "All Might!" As the hero stands tall, a fist in the air.

But around him is a more formless yell. The excited screams he'd associate with a new debut.

He  _ did _ technically rescue someone, he supposes.

Everyone's looking at him. Asking him questions, congratulating him, trying to touch him and-

He's away. Several meters back from the crowd's prying eyes and reaching hands. He scrambles to his feet, forgetting his backpack and Kacchan and even All Might as the sheer  _ what the fuck _ of what's happening finally gets to him. He runs home, skipping several meters at a time as his anxiety supplies him with stuttering bursts of... teleportation? Speed? He isn't sure. He can't think straight he needs to get home and  _ calm the fuck down _ so he can figure things out-

He slams into his front door. Again, no recoil or even any sort of pain.

His elbow makes a dent, though. 

_ Guess it's speed, then. So much for equal but opposite reactions.  _

His mother opens the door, terrified at seeing her son on the news speeding away from a villain attack that  _ he specifically interfered with _ .

"Uh," Izuku stammers. "I  _ want _ to say 'I can explain,' but I'd be uh... wrong?"


End file.
